


Snow Day

by BeautyAndTheBeskar



Series: Band of Vode [3]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Fluff, Gen, Mandalorian Clans (Star Wars), Mandalorian world building, Shopping, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, de aged clone troopers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-17
Updated: 2021-02-16
Packaged: 2021-03-12 02:08:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,824
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29502474
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BeautyAndTheBeskar/pseuds/BeautyAndTheBeskar
Summary: Laan'i takes Rex, Ahsoka, Fives, Echo, Jesse, and Kix snowmobiling on her home planet. Takes place about a year after the Clone War.
Relationships: CT-21-0408 | CT-1409 | Echo & CT-27-5555 | ARC-5555 | Fives, CT-27-5555 | ARC-5555 | Fives & Ahsoka Tano, CT-27-5555 | ARC-5555 | Fives & CT-5597 | Jesse, CT-27-5555 | ARC-5555 | Fives & CT-7567 | Rex, CT-27-5555 | ARC-5555 | Fives/Original Character(s), CT-5597 | Jesse & CT-6116 | Kix, CT-5597 | Jesse & CT-7567 | Rex, CT-7567 | Rex & Ahsoka Tano, CT-7567 | Rex/Ahsoka Tano
Series: Band of Vode [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2074911
Kudos: 6
Collections: Captain Rex Stuff, Echo&Fives





	1. Snowmobiling

**Author's Note:**

> This is basically pure tooth-rotting fluff. Also me having fun writing landscape descriptions. If you don't know who Laan'i is, she's a Mandalorian who fought with the 501st for the last two years of the clone wars. You can read Fives/Laan'i and Rex/Ahsoka as platonic or romantic. Since this is a year after the war ended, it takes place roughly 6 months after these guys leave the GAR.

“You sure this thing works?” Jesse asks, crouched next to a snowmobile with dented body panels and a broken headlight. The rest of the fleet parked in the woods don’t look much better.

“Yes, they’re dented not rotted,” Laan’i counters, slapping the hood with a solid  _ thunk. _

“It’s just really outdated tech,” Echo says, skipping side to side to keep warm.

“What is this, twenty questions? They’re used almost every day, of course they’re a little banged up. They work.”

“Why aren’t we just using the speeders we came in on?” Rex asks.

“Because this is for _ fun _ , F-U-N, fun.  _ Wayii _ !”

“I’ve never seen a vehicle with- treads… like this,” Ahsoka marvels. “How do they work?”

“Power from the engine’s transferred to the tracks with a belt drive and clutch system, track spins and you go, now  _ let’s  _ go. Follow me closely. I’ll let you know when we get on the lake, you’ll need to stay on the trail and go fast. If you fall in, full throttle, if you really fall in, spread your arms out to catch yourself and don’t panic, just call for help, kick your legs up and pull yourself out. It’s not too far but these aren’t as fast as what you’re used to. Questions?” Laan’i is faced with silence, so she claps her hand together.

“Good, hop on, these all seat two,” she says, jogging excitedly to one of the vehicles.

The group puts their helmets on, now more beskar than plastoid. Jesse gets on a black and green snowmobile with Kix, Rex hops on a white and blue one with Ahsoka, Echo on a black and blue one with Fives, and Laan’i on a black and white one. She starts hers up, and three more engines roar to life. 

Leading the pack through the trails in the woods, Laan’i uses hand signals and internal comms to communicate over the whirring noises produced by the snowmobiles. She speeds through the winding paths with the ease and fluidity of a flag silk, slowing down periodically so as not to lose the others.

Behind her, Fives starts and stops abruptly, serpentining over the path to jostle Echo around as much as he can tolerate himself. That is, until he rolls the snowmobile on its side, nearly falling into the bioluminescent stream, running so fast that ice refuses to form. It takes Fives, Echo, and Kix to push the machine right side up, with a new dent visible on the right fender. 

Now that Rex and Jesse know their brakes work, the fleet gets back to riding, though Fives has been demoted to Passenger for the rest of the trip.

Rex keeps tailgating the ARC twins in friendly competition, taunting them over the engine noise, while Ahsoka alternates between cheering as they zoom around a bend and taking in the scenery. Snow covered veshok trees, tall evergreens with wide trunks and branches that start high up the trunk, make up most of the forest with various deciduous trees mixed in. Golden ferns and red barked bushes with silver leaves dot the forest floor, some with frosty red berries. A stream weaves its way closer and farther from the path, glowing pink, green, and blue at its fast-moving parts.

Jesse’s enthusiastic whoops can be heard from the front of the pack, Kix being a bit less vocal about his excitement. Despite the rock-hard suspension, the two couldn’t be having anymore fun.

Finally Laan’i slows to a stop, signaling the others to stop as well. She stands up backwards on her seat to talk to the rest of the group.

“Alright, we made it to the lake,” she says, pointing to the vast, flat area down a small hill. “See that giant path right in front of me that looks like a road? That’s the path we’re taking.  _ Do not _ go off of it. There’s currents running through the water where the ice is thin, but the path is away enough that it’s safe. Go as fast as you can, we want to keep the ice strong.”

Surprisingly, the trip across the lake is the best part of the trip so far. The four snowmobiles speed across the frozen surface, a uniform distance apart, looking like they were pulled out of a holofilm. The whipping wind is invigorating rather than bone-chilling, smiles breaking out under helmets.


	2. Shopping

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's official! Rex and Ahsoka are fully integrated into Clan Deshra now that they have bes'kavase.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's where the relationship tags you came here for may or may not come into place, depending on how you read into this. Worth mentioning, the clones were de-aged a bit in this AU so Rex, Fives, Echo, and Jesse are 22, Kix is 23, Laan'i is 22, and Ahsoka is 19.

Laan’i zips onto the elevated shore so fast she catches air, the others not far behind, hitting the ground with a spray of snow. The journey continues through the woods, past some fields, and finally they get to a medium sized shop with a pitched metal roof, big veshok beams, and windows set in hexagonal metal frames. Above the open doors, a sign reads  _ Bes’kavase. _

“Eh, lovebirds, let’s go,” Laan’i teases, seeing Rex struggle to turn off his snowmobile and Ahsoka’s arms still clasped around his waist.

Fives walks over and takes the key out of it’s slot, dangling it in front of Rex until an unseen force snatches it out of his hand. 

A jingle bell announces the group’s presence when the door opens, and they walk into the controlled chaos. To the left of the door are rows of compound bows hanging from racks on the walls. To the right are hollow logs with colorful arrows resting nock-up. Stands and shelves with accessories dot the shop, feathers hanging from various places. In the center of the building, a silver hawk, a small relative of the shriek hawk, perches on a veshok beam with its branches left on. On the back wall are unstrung recurve bows, and to the right of the “tree” two human men and a togruta woman with curled montrals tinker with bows behind a long counter.

The silver hawk lets out a shriek and glides clumsily to land on Laan’i’s vambrace. “Hey there, Ivaan,” she greets, scratching under his beak.

“Eh, look what the tooka dragged in,” one of the men booms.

“Aw, now don’t get all mushy on me _mir’shab_ ,” Laan’i counters.

“Broke all your arrows already, _mir’sheb_?” he asks with an osik eating grin.

“ _Nayc, di’kut, ner burc’yase burki bes’kavase_ ,” she says, setting Ivaan on the counter.

“Ah, _‘lek_. Oh, and Fives, you get a family discount on the restring.” Fives turns a few shades redder at that.

“We’re not married, _di’kut_ ,” Laan’i glares. 

“Can’t I mess with my _vod’ika_ every once in a while?” the man shrugs, continuing, “anyway, who’re my victims today?”

“That’d be me,” Ahsoka beams, elbowing Rex in the ribs, “and Rexter here.”

“Nice, our newest clan members. Laan’i’s told me about you,” the black-armored man says, reaching his hand out for a Mandalorian wrist-shake. He nods to Ahsoka, saying, “ _Ner’gai_ Nikolai, I’ll be helping you out today. Jura, if you’d help the guy that’d be great.”

Nikolai led Ahsoka over to the bow racks, his smooth, enthusiastic voice ringing through the building. Then a young man in black and green armor puts down the wood bow limb he was engraving and begins fitting Rex with a release.

The white and yellow Togruta briefly looks away from her work to say, “Feel free to browse. If you have questions just shout. Name’s Ellie by the way.”

After spending a good chunk of time trying to convince Jesse to get a bow, Laan’i and Fives finally get him to try one. They head through the barn doors to the indoor range in the back of the building. Once there, Laan’i shows him how to shoot, and lets him try the glossy veshok bow for himself. Kix nearly tears up laughing when the arrow lands in the snow with a  _ thwump _ . Meanwhile, Rex and Ahsoka stand in the neighboring lanes, alternating between shooting and holding their bows while they get adjusted, the arrows getting closer to the bullseye with each one. 

While his  _ vode _ laugh their way through Jesse’s first attempt at archery, Echo stays in the shop, playing with Ivaan and chatting with Ellie as she strings a mostly white compound bow.

“So how’s your bow working out for you?” Ellie asks, green eyes flicking to Echo.

“It’s good, the magnetic grip really helps.” He wiggles his prosthetic fingers,

“Great. I see Ivaan’s gotten to know you,” she chuckles, seeing the bird peeking out of Echo’s helmet.

Echo laughs, “Yeah, I think I’ll just sneak home with him.”

“More like you’ll have to leave your bucket here,” Ellie jokes.

“Yeah.” Echo cocks his head when he sees that one wing has more feathers than the other. “Is his wing supposed to look like that?” he asks, tilting his helmet.

“Oh, yeah, he was caught in a fence a few years ago. Laan’i had to do field surgery on him to remove the damaged part of his wing. Since he was unreleasable we decided to make him our mascot. He keeps the _vhe’viine_ at bay, too.” 

As if to prove Ellie’s point, the hawk wiggles out of Echo’s helmet and jumps from the counter, gliding down to catch a small brown rodent hopping across the floor.

“Just a second,” Ellie says, soldering a nocking loop onto the bowstring. She turns and yells, “Fives, come get your _bes’kava_!”

After a few seconds of silence, the ARC trooper runs up to the counter, hands over some credits, says a quick thank you, and fixes it onto his back plate, dragging Echo back out to the range with him.

A few minutes later, Rex and Ahsoka’s adjustments are done and they get squared away at the counter, happy with their new purchases.

“Alright, you’re all set,” Jura says, handing Rex the change. “ _K’oyacyi_!”

The bell rings as they exit, Laan’i swirling back around.

“You stayin’ late or no?” she asks Ni’kolai.

“Coming right home today,” he answers. “Your friends gonna stay for dinner?”

“Most of ‘em, Jesse and Kix leave for Coruscant this afternoon.”

“Okay, tell them I said bye!”

“I will! ‘Ret,” Laan’i says, already stepping back through the door, holding the door open for a Mandalorian entering the store.

The return trip was just as fun as the way to the store, though Fives insisted on riding with Laan’i if he was still resigned to being a passenger, because “Echo drives too slow.” He fell off twice.

Now back at Laan’i’s _buire_ ’s farmhouse, snowmobiles parked under the veshok trees, the Mandalorians shake off the snow and shuffle inside. They chat for a bit, admiring the matching black and blue compound bows, one slightly larger than the other. Rex and Ahsoka get teased for having his-and-hers bows, much to their chagrin. After doing some barnwork, Jesse and Kix are seen off at Shatual Point’s landing strip. Then, of course, Clan Deshra’s newest members join Laan’i for glow-in-the-dark archery until dinner time arrives. The rest of the evening goes well, Rex, Ahsoka, Echo, Fives, and Laan’i heading back to their shared cabin after helping with dishes and securing the barn.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, you made it to the end! Feel free to leave comments and kudos, I love hearing what y'all think of the one-shots. Translations are:  
> bes'kavase- bows *as in bow and arrow, not hair accessories. Mando'a doesn't seem to have a word for them so I made one up  
> mir'shab- f**kface  
> mir'sheb- a**face (come on, what siblings don't call each other names?)  
> Nayc, di’kut, ner burc’yase burki bes’kavase- No, idiot, my friends need bows  
> 'lek- yeah  
> vod'ika- little brother/sister  
> ner'gai- my name is  
> vode- brothers/sisters  
> vhe'viine- small rodents native to Mandalore  
> K'oyacyi- cheers  
> buire- parents

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! This was supposed to be a one-shot but went a little longer than that. Yes, I plopped snowmobiles into the Star Wars universe, but for such a snowy planet I thought they'd need something besides hover bikes lol. This takes place on a rare off-day for the Mandos, so I decided to have them meet up at Laan'i's parents' house for a family dinner afterwards. Laan'i's brother Nikolai was fun to write, and hopefully fun to read, as I based him off my brother and actual conversations we've had. I also thought it would be fun for the archery shop to have a bird greeter, seeing as hawks are important to Clan Deshra. For translations, we have:  
> Elek/ 'lek- Yes/ yeah  
> Wayii- Good grief


End file.
